The invention pertains to interior foam trim panels utilizing isocyanate reactants to rigidify the foam panel.
Foam panels that are used for interior trim are well known. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,393,474, hereby incorporated by reference.
Foam layers containing an isocyanate group for impregnating a foam and causing it to harden during the curing process are described in a number of patents, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,089,328 which is incorporated by reference. In a similar fashion, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,308,678 and 5,068,001 which are incorporated by reference.
The difficulty with the foams that contain an isocyanate material that are used for impregnating and curing of the foam is that the isocyanate is fairly reactive during processing conditions such as occurs in high humidity areas. In addition, utilization of a catalyst that may have undesirable aroma in the working place may be of a concern to certain susceptible individuals.
It is an object of the present invention to describe a foam based interior trim panel where the free-NCO groups have been reacted with an organofunctional silaceous material so that no free-NCO is available for a reaction prior to final curing and rigidifying the foam panel.
Described is a method of forming a trim panel comprising the steps of:
providing a foam trim panel,
treating the foam panel with a coating composition containing a polymerizable polymer, e.g. a urethane, and an organofunctional silaceous material; and
shaping and curing the treated panel to a desired configuration so that the organofunctional silaceous material reacts and cures to assist in the foam panel retaining its desired configuration.
Preferably when the urethane coating is used, the polymer has been reacted with an organofunctional silaceous material resulting in a polymeric material having substantially no free-NCO groups, as applied to the panel.